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| RSC Production of As You Like It |
No playwright is more
translated and adapted than Shakespeare, as (almost) every culture seems to
have an insatiable need to meet his work half-way, inspiring many of the great
writers and poets (and directors) to coin their own Shakespearean language.
Given this, you would think that English speakers praise their lucky stars to
be have this amazing literature born from their mother tongue, which requires
no artful translation or extravagant staging. You can simply crack open King
Lear or The Tempest and have at it. And yet, so many
English-speakers, and chief among them students, groan at the very mention of
Shakespeare and his all-but-unreadable language, which they often claim is “old
English.” A Shakespeare play no longer draws throngs of eager pilgrims as it
once did, as many claim the plays are too remote, too obscure, and require
someone explaining all the business on stage. If only he could just speak “English”
so it would all make sense! Indeed, many audiences find themselves lost in a
labyrinth of language which leads them in circles, at least until they grasp at
the coattails of a plot. This has inspired many theater companies to severely
edit the plays, removing strange references and shortening lengthy speeches of
verse. Some go even further and attempt a complete translation, making
Shakespeare’s characters speak “our” language (wherever “we” are at the moment),
so the audience can enjoy a simple night’s entertainment without having to pull
up Spark Notes on their cell phones.
